Armed Forces: Aircraft

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Astor of Hever on 17 February (WA 194) and 14 February (WA 143-4), why the Ministry of Defence is funding a Royal Air Force Seedcorn initiative using ex-Nimrod aircrew; and what are the costs involved.

Lord Astor of Hever: The Seedcorn initiative will sustain the UK's ability to operate high-end fixed-wing maritime patrol aviation in a range of complex operating environments by maintaining highly perishable skills, particularly in anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface unit warfare, search and rescue, and maritime intelligence, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
	The approximate cost of the 33 RAF aircrew serving overseas as part of the Seedcorn initiative is £3.25 million for financial year 2011-12. This includes service pay costs, overseas allowances and travel and subsistence costs.

Armed Forces: Aircraft

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Astor of Hever on 27 February (WA 193), whether Merlin mark 2 helicopters are able to conduct area anti-submarine warfare using sonobuoys and other sensors as well as localised anti-submarine warfare.

Lord Astor of Hever: The Merlin mark 2 helicopter will be at least as capable as the Merlin mark 1 which it replaces, and will be able to conduct the same forms of anti-submarine warfare using active and passive acoustic and other non-acoustic sensors in order to conduct area searches and localisation.

Aviation: Passenger Duty

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they consider it appropriate for airlines and travel companies to describe anything other than air passenger duty as a tax.

Lord Sassoon: The Government are aware that a number of other countries have introduced passenger air travel taxes and that airlines may use a "taxes and other charges" description to cover these taxes. This description can also cover other costs such as landing fees, air traffic control and airport infrastructure charges.

Bank of England

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will ask the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee to produce a joint report reviewing whether the policy of quantitative easing poses any risk to systemic financial stability.

Lord Sassoon: The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and interim Financial Policy Committee (FPC) are independent of Government. The Bank of England monitors the impact of quantitative easing in its inflation reports and quarterly bulletins. The Bank of England's financial stability reports present the interim FPC's assessment of the risks to the UK financial system.

Bank of England

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government who are the members of the appointment committee to be charged with proposing the nomination of the next Governor of the Bank of England; what principles are used in appointing the membership of this committee; and whether the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee will be invited to conduct a pre-appointment hearing.

Lord Sassoon: The current governor's term expires on 30 June 2013. The process for appointing his successor will commence in due course.

Benefits

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many payments of child benefit and child tax credit are made on behalf of children living abroad per year; whether such payments are temporary; whether they are payable without provision of a birth certificate; what checks are made as to entitlement; and how many such payments were made in the last year for which figures are available, in respect of residents of the 10 countries with the highest British populations; and with what total value for each country.

Lord Sassoon: The main purpose of child benefit and the child tax credit is to support families living in the UK. Consequently, the general rules for child benefit and the child tax credit do not provide for them to be paid in respect of children resident outside the UK.
	There are, however, limited exceptions set out in UK and European Community (EC) law such as: UK Crown Servants posted overseas who are accompanied by their family; or a person claiming child benefit and/or the child tax credit who is working in the UK and paying compulsory UK national insurance contributions and their family is living in another member state of the European Economic Area (EEA). Such payments are made for as long as the claimants meet the necessary conditions of entitlement set out in the relevant legislation.
	As with all other child benefit claims, the claimant must provide documentary evidence of the child for whom he or she is claiming, such as an original birth or adoption certificate. Child tax credit claims are cross-referenced to the child benefit claim. Where there is no child benefit claim, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs tax credit office will call for similar documents and undertake its own checks to verify the existence of the child.
	In addition, where child benefit and/or the child tax credit is claimed by virtue of the EC social security co-ordinating regulations (EC regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009), HMRC carries out further checks with the competent authorities of the relevant EEA member state to verify the information provided by the claimant, principally to confirm the composition of the family resident in the other member state and whether family benefits are in payment there. Payments of UK child benefit and child tax credit are not made until the competent authorities in other member state have provided the necessary confirmation.
	Information about the number of such ongoing child benefit awards made in respect of children resident in other EEA member states has previously been published by the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in reply to the honourable Member for Peterborough, Mr Stewart Jackson, on 6 September 2011 (Official Report, Commons, col. 400 to 401W).
	The other information requested is not available.

Care Quality Commission

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the chief executive of the Care Quality Commission has resigned unconditionally or whether payments for early termination of employment have been arranged or early payment of pension has been put in place; and, if so, what sums of money are involved.

Earl Howe: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. It is responsible for determining the terms and conditions of its employees, including the chief executive.
	The CQC has provided the following information.
	Cynthia Bower has resigned from her post as chief executive of the CQC. She is on a standard contract of employment and is not contracted to a fixed term. Therefore it is not an early termination of employment.
	There are no conditions attached to Cynthia Bower's resignation. There will be no additional payments in relation to her resignation.
	Cynthia Bower is a member of the National Health Service Pension Scheme. Any decision as to whether she chooses to take her reduced pension under the NHS Pension Scheme rules when she leaves the CQC will be a personal matter.

Cosmetic Interventions

Lord Colwyn: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the NHS Medical Director will be consulting dermatologists and the British Association of Dermatologists during his review of the regulation of the cosmetic surgery industry.

Earl Howe: It will be for Sir Bruce Keogh to determine precisely how the various interested parties can contribute to his review of the regulation of cosmetic interventions. I am sure that Sir Bruce will wish to engage very fully with the relevant professional bodies such as the British Association of Dermatologists.

Credit and Debit Cards: Surcharges

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their deadline for the removal of excessive credit and debit card surcharges.

Baroness Wilcox: The EU consumer rights directive will require member states to prohibit traders from charging consumers fees that exceed the costs borne by the trader for the use of a given means of payment. This will ban excessive debit and credit card charges in areas within scope of the directive. The Government supported the inclusion of this provision in the directive. The deadline for the directive to take effect in national law is 13 June 2014.
	The Government share consumers' concerns about the high level of payment surcharges imposed by some businesses. On 23 December 2011 we announced our intention to consult on implementing the payment surcharges provision of the consumer rights directive ahead of the June 2014 deadline. We intend to issue a consultation document this spring to seek views on the timing of implementation among other issues.

Credit and Debit Cards: Surcharges

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they estimate that excessive surcharges for credit and debit card users cost (1) air passengers, and (2) other consumers, in the past year.

Baroness Wilcox: The Office of Fair Trading conducted an investigation into payment surcharges in the passenger transport sector in 2011. It concluded that UK consumers spent around £300 million on payment surcharges in 2010 in the airline sector. This was based on per journey surcharges and UK passenger numbers of 10 airlines operating in the UK and reflects total payment surcharges, not the amount of surcharging above the costs borne by the trader for the use of the means of payment.
	On 23 December 2011 the Government announced their intention to consult on prohibiting above-cost payment surcharges ahead of the June 2014 deadline in the consumer rights directive. We are preparing an impact assessment to be published with the consultation. The impact assessment will contain data on the level of surcharges in the passenger transport and other business sectors. The consultation will assist the Government's estimation of the current level of payment surcharging.

Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord McNally on 27 February (WA 230), what plans they have to raise awareness among religious communities, and in particular British Islamic communities, about the provisions of Section 1 of the Divorce (Religious Marriages) Act 2002.

Lord McNally: Ministers held a meeting with members of the Muslim community on 6 February 2012 to discuss issues regarding Muslim marriage and difficulties experienced by Muslim women. Ministers are currently considering this matter and the options to address the issues

Embryology

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Earl Howe on 8 February (WA 65-6) and 27 February (WA 237), when the stem cell lines that correspond to those used in the clinical trial at Moorfields Eye Hospital were previously deposited in the UK Stem Cell Bank; and which researchers have access to the cells used in the trial.

Earl Howe: The UK Stem Cell Bank advises that the cell line intended to be used in the clinical trial at Moorfields Eye Hospital was approved for deposit in December 2004 and was received for banking by the UK Stem Cell Bank in March 2005.
	The cell line is available from the UK Stem Cell Bank to other researchers provided that they have an approved application for use from the UK Stem Cell Bank Steering Committee and a completed material use licence with the depositor of the cell line.

Employment: Law

Lord Ouseley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to alter equality legislation applicable to people in the labour market through the introduction of measures to make it easier for employers to hire and fire; and whether an equality impact assessment will be undertaken and published.

Baroness Wilcox: The Government are conducting a Parliament-long review of employment law to reduce the burden of employment regulation for employers and give them confidence to take on staff and grow, while retaining important protections for employees. There are no current plans arising from the review to amend equality legislation in relation to employers' ability to recruit or dismiss employees. However, a range of wider measures to encourage the earlier resolution of employment disputes and boost employer confidence in the employment tribunal system have been set out in the Government's response to its Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation. Copies of the government response, including a full equality impact assessment, are available in the House Library.
	The Government are continuing to review employment law and will shortly publish a call for evidence on current dismissal processes. An equality impact assessment will be undertaken and published if the Government decide to consult formally on any proposals in light of the evidence gathered through this exercise.

Energy: Green Deal

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cost to energy companies of implementing the Green Deal central charge database.

Lord Marland: The impact assessment published alongside the Green Deal consultation document in November 2011 estimated the cost to energy companies of implementing the Green Deal central charge database at £2 million to £3 million.

Energy: Green Deal

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with energy companies or their representatives regarding their assessment of the Green Deal central charge database.

Lord Marland: The Green Deal central charge database is being procured by MRASCo (MRA Service Company) on behalf of electricity suppliers. Officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change have attended, as observers, a series of on-going workshops run by MRASCo for all electricity suppliers since October 2011. These workshops discussed the design and specification of the central charge database.

Energy: Green Deal

Baroness Smith of Basildon: To ask Her Majesty's Government what responses they have received from energy companies or their representatives regarding the implementation of the Green Deal and the Green Deal central charge.

Lord Marland: We received over 600 responses to the Green Deal consultation launched in November 2011 which we are currently considering. These could include responses by energy companies and their representatives regarding the implementation of the Green Deal and the Green Deal central charge database. We will publish our response as soon as possible once the process of considering the responses is completed.

Extradition

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, before agreeing to the extradition of Mr Tappin to the United States, they obtained assurances that he would be treated humanely, housed in comfortable accommodation in an accessible place of detention and that arrangements would be made for his wife and family to visit him; and whether they will arrange consular visits to him.

Lord Henley: The United Kingdom's domestic law regarding extradition requests received from other countries is the Extradition Act 2003, which provides a person whose extradition is sought by another jurisdiction with full and effective safeguards, including those relating to human rights. These are matters which are considered by the courts.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is the government department responsible for providing consular services. Consular staff are providing assistance to Mr Tappin and his family, including arranging to visit Mr Tappin. Details of the assistance British detainees in the USA are offered is available on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website: http://ukinusa.fco. gov.uk/arrested.

Extradition

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of the extradition to the United States of Mr Christopher Tappin, they will review present extradition arrangements with that country.

Lord Henley: The UK-US extradition treaty was one of the areas considered by the independent extradition review. My Rt Hon. Friend the Home Secretary is currently giving the review panel's recommendations careful consideration and the Government will announce what action they will take in due course.

Government Departments: Parking Fines

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much HM Revenue and Customs has paid in (1) parking tickets, and (2) vehicle clamping charges, incurred by staff in the course of their work on (a) privately owned and (b) publicly owned land in each of the past 10 years.

Lord Sassoon: This information is not readily available and would only be available at disproportionate cost.

Government Departments: Staff

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of civil servants employed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills who take time off work each year through smoking-related illnesses.

Baroness Wilcox: No assessment has been made of the percentage of civil servants employed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) who take time off work each year through smoking-related illnesses. The categories used to group sickness absence data do not allow for the production of such data.

Health: Costs

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have conducted a cost-benefit analysis of extending access to free NHS care to those pensioners who have lived in the United Kingdom for a significant period of time and then become resident overseas outside the European Union.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the impact of extending access to free NHS care to those pensioners now resident overseas on migration flows in and out of the United Kingdom.

Earl Howe: United Kingdom state pensioners who live overseas but who in the past lived in the UK lawfully for 10 continuous years or more are exempt from charges for National Health Service hospital treatment in England. The exemption from charges is limited to treatment when the need for it arises during their visit to the UK. It has been in place since regulations allowing charges to be made to overseas visitors for NHS hospital treatment first came into force in 1982, so such UK state pensioners have always been able to access NHS hospital treatment without charge. Therefore, neither a cost-benefit analysis, nor an estimate of the impact on migration flows of extending access to free NHS care to these pensioners has been done.

Health: Physiotherapy

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of (1) the 30 per cent cut in physiotherapy training places in London, and (2) the closure of the physiotherapy courses at the University of East London and London South Bank University, on the ability of the National Health Service to meet future demand for physiotherapy services.

Earl Howe: NHS London (NHSL) has tendered for its physiotherapy training programmes starting in 2012-13. Higher education institutions were informed of the results of these bids in January 2012. The detail is confidential, until the contracts are signed off, which is expected to be in March 2012. Until then we are unable to discuss or confirm the results for specific organisations.
	It is the responsibility of strategic heath authorities to plan their commissions based on local workforce requirements.
	NHSL has reviewed the level of commissions in the light of expected future demand for physiotherapists, taking into account factors such as attrition, retirement and clinical experts' views on quality of education. While a degree of oversupply is desirable to allow for unforeseen changes in the future, NHSL believes that a reduction in commissions is required to avoid large numbers of physiotherapists being unable to find employment.

Health: Physiotherapy

Lord Kennedy of Southwark: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the closure of the physiotherapy training course at the University of East London on the number of people from disadvantaged and disabled groups who have the opportunity to train in physiotherapy.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the closure of the part-time physiotherapy training course at London South Bank University on the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds or who have caring responsibilities who have the opportunity to train in physiotherapy.

Earl Howe: NHS London has tendered for its physiotherapy training programmes starting in 2012-13. Higher education institutions were informed of the results of these bids in January 2012. The detail is confidential, until the contracts are signed off, which is expected to be in March 2012. Until then we are unable to discuss or confirm the results for specific organisations.
	It is the responsibility of strategic heath authorities to plan their education commissions, including physiotherapy, based on local workforce requirements and to assess the impact on equalities of changes to the way they commission training programmes. NHS London has confirmed it has carried out an equality impact assessment on the tendering process.

House of Lords: Membership

Lord Tebbit: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Strathclyde on 27 February (WA 275), and to the statement by Lord Strathclyde on 9 February (Official Report, col. 359), that "the Government are working towards the objective of creating a second chamber that reflects the share of the votes secured by the political parties at the last general election", whether they intend to create Members of the House of Lords representing the UK Independence Party, the Green Party or the British National Party; and how they are calculating the number of Cross-Bench Peers to be created.
	The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Lord Strathclyde): The coalition agreement sets out the Government's policy on this issue. It is for the Prime Minister to determine the number of nominations for life peerages.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Strathclyde on 27 February (WA 275), whether the Prime Minister will determine nominations for life peerages in accordance with the Government's stated policy of "working towards the objective of creating a second chamber that reflects the share of the votes secured by the political parties at the last general election".

Lord Strathclyde: The coalition agreement sets out the Government's policy on this issue. It is for the Prime Minister to determine the number of nominations for life peerages.

Justice and Security

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether information provided in response to the consultation on the Justice and Security Green Paper (Cm 8194) is subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Lord McNally: Each request for information held by a department is treated separately, and considered in the light of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and any relevant exemptions, as well as other relevant legislation such as the Data Protection Act 1998. It is not possible to comment on what exemptions if any might be relevant, but if information is already in the public domain, then that would be made clear to the applicant in any response.

Justice and Security

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord McNally on 27 February (HL15541), whether the identity of all respondents to the public consultation on the Green Paper on Justice and Security, as distinct from the content or part of the content of some of the submissions, is subject to an obligation of confidence.

Lord McNally: The Government will respect requests from individual respondents who have asked for their responses to be treated as submitted in confidence. The vast majority of respondents have agreed to the publication of their responses. Work is ongoing to clarify the wishes of the remaining respondents.

Justice and Security

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the security and intelligence services were consulted during the preparation of and public consultation on the Green Paper on Justice and Security.

Lord McNally: The security and intelligence agencies were consulted during the work that led to the preparation of the Justice and Security Green Paper though, as the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice made clear in his recent evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the Green Paper itself is a ministerial document. The Government did not seek views from the security and intelligence agencies during the public consultation on the Green Paper.

Justice and Security

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether responses have been made to the public consultation on the Green Paper on Justice and Security by or on behalf of the security and intelligence services.

Lord McNally: The security and intelligence agencies have not responded to the public consultation on the Justice and Security Green Paper.

National Loan Guarantee Scheme

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will review the impact on credit availability and pricing of the proposed National Loan Guarantee Scheme against the introduction by the Bank of England of an equivalent to the European Central Bank's long-term refinancing operation.

Lord Sassoon: It is important that policy initiatives are clearly linked to a particular objective. In the UK, the National Loan Guarantee Scheme aims to ease credit conditions for smaller businesses by reducing their cost of financing loans. In the euro area, the aim of the European Central Bank's long-term refinancing operations is to provide liquidity to the financial sector, following the particularly marked deterioration in market conditions for euro-area banks during the second half of 2011.
	The Bank of England is independently responsible for operations in the sterling money markets. These are designed to implement the Monetary Policy Committee's decisions in order to meet the inflation target; and to provide short-term liquidity insurance to the banking system to support financial stability. At present, the Bank of England asset purchase scheme has ensured UK banks have access to a substantial amount of liquidity.

NHS: Central Lancashire

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the expected date for the completion of the doctor's surgery in Chorley East Ward, Lancashire.

Earl Howe: The development of new primary care facilities is a matter for local commissioners to determine. Further information on proposals for the development of a new healthcare facility in Chorley East can be obtained from NHS Central Lancashire.

NHS: North Lancashire

Lord Hoyle: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the chief executive of NHS North Lancashire, Janet Soo-Chung, has held meetings with Members of either House since she took up her post; and with whom those meetings were held.

Earl Howe: Local business conducted by National Health Service chief executives is a matter for the NHS locally. Information about meetings held by Janet Soo-Chung should be obtained directly from North Lancashire Teaching Primary Care Trust.

Northern Ireland Office: Staff

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the percentage of civil servants employed by the Northern Ireland Office who take time off work each year through smoking-related illnesses.

Lord Shutt of Greetland: The Northern Ireland Office records the reasons for staff absences due to illness. Such records do not separately specify illnesses which are potentially smoking-related.

Passports

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will require those being issued with a new United Kingdom passport, or whose United Kingdom passport is being renewed, to declare details of any other passport that they hold.

Lord Henley: Applicants for a UK passport who have previously held a British passport are required to provide details of the last passport held by them when they apply. If they have not held a British passport they will be required to show the last foreign passport held by them. This information is required to help confirm the identity of the applicant.

Pensions

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the median annual pension and lump sum paid to full-time hospital consultants and medical general practitioners retiring last year; and what were the percentage employee and employer contributions where relevant.

Earl Howe: It is not possible to disaggregate the pension information of full-time hospital consultants from other clinical staff. Analysis of these data would involve disproportionate costs.
	The most up-to-date information held on the median annual pension and lump sum paid to retiring general practitioners (GPs) is as at 31/3/10 and contained in the following table:
	
		
			  Pension data for retired GPs (31.03.2010)* 
			 Median £43,000 
			 Median Lump Sum £129,000 
		
	
	* Data provided by the Government Actuary's Department (GAD)
	The NHS Pension Scheme's employer contribution rate is currently 14 per cent. Employee contribution rates vary according to member salary, while GPs pay contributions based on their annual National Health Service income. Based on their pay scale, consultants pay contributions of either 7.5% or 8.5%.
	In line with the data provided above, the following table sets out the employer contribution rates as at 2009-10 for practitioners.
	Practitioner and non-GP Provider NHS Pension Scheme members:
	
		
			 Tier Tier Annual Pensionable Pay (*full-time equivalent) 2009-10 Contribution Rate 2009-10 
			 1 Up to £20,709 5% 
			 2 £20,710 to £68,392 6.5% 
			 3 £68,393 to £107,846 7.5% 
			 4 £107,847 8.5%

Piracy

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sassoon on 14 February (WA 156), whether HM Treasury recognises (1) anti- piracy and (2) anti-drug operations as a valid commitment for Ministry for Defence forces.

Lord Sassoon: The Ministry of Defence's tasks, including counterpiracy and counternarcotics, required to meet the Government's standing commitments are set out in the department's business plan 2011-15.

Ports and Harbours

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the availability of resources to the Marine Management Organisation has any bearing on whether they decide to hold a public inquiry into an application for a harbour revision order.

Earl Attlee: No. Financial cost is not a consideration that the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) would take into account when deciding whether or not an inquiry should be held under the Harbours Act 1964.
	If an objection has not been withdrawn, the MMO may decide the application at that point or may cause an inquiry to be held to inform its decision.

Public Infrastructure: Investment

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their proposals to encourage pension and other funds to invest in public infrastructure will involve full and effective risk transfer from the Government or their agencies.

Lord Sassoon: Any investment by a private sector entity in public infrastructure, whether by a pension fund or any other class of investor, will continue to need to represent value for money for the taxpayer. Value-for-money assessments factor in considerations of risk transfer.

Roads: Speed Limits

Lord Bradshaw: To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact automatic number plate recognition systems will have on the enforcement of speed limits.

Earl Attlee: Average speed cameras rely on automatic number plate recognition technology and are already providing an effective way of enforcing speed limits, for example through roadworks on motorways.
	Their future use on local roads, for example in urban areas, will depend on decisions by local authorities, police and their communities. The Government have indicated that there should not be an overreliance on speed cameras in tackling road safety problems.
	On trunk roads average speed cameras may be an appropriate technological tool to use, for example in association with variable motorway speed limits.

Taxation

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish guidance on the circumstances in which they will introduce retrospective tax measures.

Lord Sassoon: The Government recognise that there is a balance to be struck between improving stability and predictability in the tax system and acting to reduce risk to the Exchequer.
	At Budget 2011, the Government published a "Protocol on unscheduled announcements of changes in tax law" in the document Tackling Tax Avoidance. The protocol states that "changes to tax legislation where the change takes effect from a date earlier than the date of announcement will be wholly exceptional".

Taxation: Avoidance

Lord Myners: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will introduce a general anti-tax-avoidance law.

Lord Sassoon: The study group led by Graham Aaronson QC looking at a possible general anti-avoidance rule for the UK delivered its report in November 2011. The Government have announced that they will make their formal response in the 2012 Budget.

UK Trade and Investment

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the process by which the membership of UK Trade and Investment's sector group task forces and sector advisory groups is decided.

Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint: Members of UK Trade and Investment sector advisory groups, which are informal and unpaid, are appointed from industry to provide a cross-section of knowledge and experience relevant to the sector. As such, there is no formal requirement to advertise or run a competition to fill vacancies although most follow the principles of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA) code of practice. Decisions in respect of renewal, after a set term, are taken following a performance review by the relevant sector chair and UKTI. Appointments to the chair of the groups are confirmed by Ministers.